1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an air conditioning apparatus for a vehicle, which has a front air-conditioning unit for controlling a temperature of air blown toward a front seat side in a passenger compartment, and a rear air-conditioning unit for controlling a temperature of air blown toward a rear seat side in the passenger compartment. The air conditioning apparatus is suitable for a one-box type recreational vehicle (RV).
2. Description of Related Art
In recent years, to improve air-conditioning feeling for a passenger compartment in a one-box type recreational vehicle, an air conditioning apparatus includes a front air-conditioning unit for controlling the temperature of air blown toward the front seat side (i.e., driver's seat and front-passenger's seat next to the driver's seat) in the passenger compartment, and a rear air-conditioning unit for controlling the temperature of air blown toward the rear seat side (i.e., the second seat, the third seat from the front seat) in the passenger compartment. Further, it is also required that the rear air-conditioning unit has cooling, heating and dehumidifying functions while finely continually controlling the temperature of air blown toward the passenger compartment from a low temperature to a high temperature, similarly to the front air-conditioning unit.
In the one-box type recreational vehicle, five doors are generally provided to increase a space of the passenger compartment, and a floor board of the passenger compartment is formed in flat from the front seat side to the rear seat side to improve comfortable performance of the passenger compartment. However, in the one-box type recreational vehicle, it is difficult to provide an arrangement space for accommodating the rear air-conditioning unit, while the floor board is formed in flat from the front seat side to the rear seat side.
Further, in the conventional rear air-conditioning unit, an evaporator and a heater core are disposed in an air conditioning case, and a ratio between an amount of air passing through the heater core and an amount of air bypassing the heater core is adjusted by an air mixing door to control the temperature of air blown toward the passenger compartment. However, because the air mixing door and a rotation space for rotating the air mixing door are necessary, the size of the rear air-conditioning apparatus is increased.